A global technology outage caused by a faulty software update disrupted airports, government websites and hospitals in Santa Barbara County Friday.
The cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike issued a software update affecting computers running on Microsoft Windows and the disruptions led to technology outages around the world, according to news reports. Crowdstrike said the incident was not caused by a hack or cyberattack.
“We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption,” the firm wrote in a statement on their website. “We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on.”
Santa Barbara County was not immune to the technology outage.
Kelsey Gerckens Buttitta, the county’s public information officer, said the county’s website was down from around 4 p.m. on Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday. The county’s website, which connects users to all departments, forms, and other services and resources, is now fully restored.
She said they were able to do a workaround to ensure people could access the Lake Fire map while the county website was down.
The Santa Barbara County Superior Court experienced significant disruptions due to the outage. Executive Officer Darrel Parker said there were disruptions to the online portal that gives people access to court calendars and documents. Court computer use was also disrupted.
All online and IT services were restored by 9:30 a.m. on Friday, Parker said.
Santa Barbara Airport Flight Delays
Across the world flights were delayed or canceled due to the outage. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines all grounded their flights for several hours late Thursday and early Friday.
Santa Barbara Airport spokesperson Angi Daus said flights, safety, and security are all now operational but there will be delayed flights throughout Friday.
Daus said some airlines will be impacted differently and will catch up quicker than others. Daus said they are encouraging passengers to remain patient and check with their airline for any updates. It’s unclear how many flights will be affected.
Cottage Hospitals Reschedule Elective Procedures
The outage also hit local healthcare systems.
Marian Regional Medical Center spokesperson Joe Bailey said the Santa Maria hospital’s computer systems were affected by the outage and patients were being notified if there were any changes to their appointments.
Cottage Health, with three local hospitals, rescheduled their non-urgent elective procedures originally set for Friday, to support backup procedures for inpatient and emergency care, spokesperson Cristina Cortez said.
Cottage’s hospitals, emergency departments, urgent care clinics and virtual care were open as usual Friday and patients are advised to continue to seek emergency and urgent care as needed, she said.
Pacific Diagnostic Laboratories closed its patient service centers Friday for non-urgent services because of the outage, it said on its website.
